Saturday, August 19, 2017

This is long-promised, and way overdue! But I could not close out the Market series without posting a few of my very favorite finds. They speak so closely to the trends this year! And since design lasts a BIT longer than fashion, these will serve you well for another good while yet.

I trace the love of all things acrylic in design back to the Louis Ghost Chair back in 2002 by Phillipe Starck. I. Still. Love. This. Chair. The design was truly genius, inspired by Louis XVI's curving armchair lines, which you can see all over at Versailles.

A true Louis and the Ghost Chair

And acrylic details are still shown all over at every market I attend. The most popular version is legs on an ottoman, but I fell in love with this fabulous acrylic and metal end table at Theodore Alexander:

The most unique interpretation of acrylic was this completely cool wood look at Bernhardt. They actually pressed a wood mold into the bottom of the acrylic table. So the top stays smooth, but you get the rustic finish underneath. Genius.

And a few more Favorite Acrylic Pieces just for fun:

Love all the tie ins with other materials like the Mongolian lambs wool and the stone terrazzo table top.

Another Favorite Thing item comes in the form of this sweet side table from Theodore Alexander. The star shape popped up in multiple formats all over market, but the painted details and leg carving on this table make it special. I always like an interpretation of something that is fun without crossing the line into silly. This one is perfect.

Color is making a comeback, and you can see that trend in these beautiful rugs from Nourison, in both a contemporary and traditional pattern:

I also found a new artist whose work I would love to put in a project. That is always a happy moment for me, and I would have taken this art home with me if it hadn't already been sold! The soft colors are beautiful, and it is showcasing the BLUES that were all over Market.

But my very favorite thing at market was this room scene at Vanguard Furniture. All of the blues working the together, the mirrored headboard, the upholstery details. LOVE.

So there you have it! All of the trends from Spring 2017 that will be working their way here over the next few years. Be bringing more color into your designs, especially some bold blues. Work in little acrylic details for a chic touch. And make sure all of your pieces have special details, whether that is through paint, nail head designs, mixing materials, and so on. There are so many wonderful things out there to work into your home and put your imprint on it, making it your own special place. Happy designing!

Saturday, May 6, 2017

More on our journey through the trends from this spring's High Point Furniture Market! This stuff is gorgeous, y'all. GORGEOUS. And I'm especially excited about these trends as they are right up my alley. 😃 If you look very closely at all at my designs, you can probably tell that I love subtle details. Designs in nail head trim, inlays in case pieces, unexpected pillow details...I love it all. So all of the details showing on furniture at this year's Market made me very happy. Here are just a few!

Love the detailing on this piece from Hooker Furniture. It reminds me of a modernized version of a Greek Key motif. And the little channel insets along the sides of the dresser? Adore.

The wood framework on the back of this chaise from Vanguard Furniture is To Die For gorgeous.

I'm still swooning over this little ribbon detail accent on this ottoman from Taylor King. TK Furniture does it right, y'all. Their showroom was gorgeous this year.

And this look from Theodore Alexander is just a fabulous updated version of the skirted club chair. Easily on of my favorite showrooms I visited this market, these folks know how to put together some lovely.

And all of these lead me into my next trend of mixing materials. This trend is so perfect for the movement in design towards an eclectic, pulled-together look vs. complete matchy-matchy furniture suites. Mixed materials are all over, and once you know what you are looking for, you're going to notice it everywhere. Stone and metal together? Yes, please. Metal framed upholstery? Certainly. Wood, metal, and fabric? It can be done and done well, y'all. Here are some of my favorites!

Travertine tiled top (complete with fossils embedded in the stone), framed in metal and arranged in a partner's desk setup; creative detailing from Bernhardt furniture.

Birdseye Maple inlay in this painted wood dresser from Caracole with metal detailing; two woods and a metal, all done in light and soothing shades.

Sweet twin bed; metal and fabric. 💓

And here it is...metal, wood, and a fabric overlay, all on one gorgeous nightstand.

The creativity that goes into these designs makes me so very happy because it all becomes an amazing pool of resources for my own designs. One of the wonderful things about what I do is all of the creative talent putting their very best into providing a wealth of goods to weave my designs around. Grateful heart today! 💓

One more market trend blog left. This one will cover all of the very cool lambswool and acrylic items that were all over market PLUS my Very Favorite Things. Come on back next week for more!

Friday, April 28, 2017

There hasn't been much agreement between the forecasters in the design community over the past few years as to where color is going. The year Benjamin Moore picked a soft white as their color of the year, Pantone picked a deep wine as their forecast trend. Three years ago Sherwin Williams picked a gorgeous plum, and this year they've selected a lovely taupe (which, for the record, I actually agree with).

Like predicting the stock market, it's sometimes hard to know what is next, but I can at least show you what we saw All Over Market this year. And while I can't promise you're going to like it, you will be interested, because it's....PINK. Blush, to be precise. We first saw this a couple of years ago, and honestly, I thought vendors might have let go of this one by now, yet that is definitely not what we observed. But -- and this is important! -- it can be done well, and I've spent some time thinking about what that would look like.

First, some views of the loveliest blushes you may ever see...

All of these I think are quite well done. Love the pink crystal version of the Sputnik pendant; such a creative use of color and material, and I can totally see this in a teenage girl's bedroom over nightstands or a desk. Adore the pink and gold drawer chest in the center. I would need an adventurous client to do this, but I could completely see it converted to a sink vanity and in the powder bath of a very chic high rise apartment, (but of course, only until the trends change, then this is retired!). Love the outback fretwork detailing on the chair; just a lovely touch of elegance mixed with modern.

And I have to share the Mongolian lambswool and gold bar stool below. Some might say this is a step too far, but it is definitely a conversation piece:

Now hopefully I haven't convinced you all that I'll be decorating all in pink until next Market. Especially since the next color trend really is my favorite. BLUE. Blue in many shades, but mostly seeing both soft blue-greens as well as deep navy. Just Gorgeous.

Adore the twin bedroom scene with just a touch of orange. And the velvet sofa underneath that is scrumptious; I'd give a firm yes to a little nap on that soft fabric. I have a room I'm working on right now for a client where we are doing a deep sapphire velvet on the chairs, and I have to say I am a fan. The wing back chair is scrumptious with the contrast outback fabric and the wood detailing. <3 Not just a mere fan of this one, but a bit of a groupie! But my very favorite blue thing at market is this one, and it would have come home with me if it hadn't already been sold:

This is the perfect piece for a room with lots of blue; it's soft, it brings in other neutral colors, and I just find it incredibly soothing. You better believe I got the artist's name, and I will be using her in future projects!

Finally, and I almost hesitate to share this yet because it qualifies as one of my Very Favorite Things at market, but this blue bedroom was DIVINE. I mean seriously, I want to import it to Texas and install it FORTHWITH (I do have to say that I love that this blog affords me a venue to use words like forthwith. Note to self: must add that to regular conversation.):

For real y'all, my photos don't do this justice, but it was just the loveliest shade of porcelain blue I've seen and combined in such yummy ways that I wanted to go home and re-do my own master bedroom IMMEDIATELY. Since my husband might leave me if I embarked on that project, I will have to content myself with a client whose dream has been to sleep in blue and make that happen!

If you follow my Instagram, you know I spent most of the past week at High Point Furniture Market in North Carolina. If you're not familiar with High Point, it's basically like Fashion Week for furniture, only instead of going to runway shows, you walk through showroom after showroom of each vendor's latest, loveliest designs. It's a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns and textures with every kind of furniture, artwork, rug, accessory - basically anything you can imagine or dream for interior design. Even better, each showroom is done by some of the best individuals in the business, ensuring exposure to one of the foremost conglomerations of the latest trends and styles, and it's incredibly helpful to me throughout the year as I refer back to the over 3000 photos I took!

It literally spreads over the entire downtown area of the city of High Point, humongous and fabulous. (NB the correct usage of literally; this is important, folks. If you haven't played the game of paying attention to how often it is used incorrectly, you really, really should. It's a good time. But I digress...)

This is us walking up to just one of the many, many buildings (on one of the few non-rainy days we had!).

I'm so excited to share with you all of the trends from Market. The things that are on the ascendance, trends that are holding steady, everything about where design is moving! I'll do this in a series of posts, but just to give you a sneak preview, here are a few of the things I'll be covering: Trending Colors, Fabulous Furniture Detailing, Mixing Materials, Totally Chic Acrylic and Mongolian Lambswool, and of course, all of my Very Favorite Things from Market!

So join me back here over the next few weeks as I invite you on a little journey through all of the most beautiful things from Market!

Friday, March 10, 2017

There are so many shows about interior designers. I mean, they are entertaining for sure, and I even watch some occasionally. But how close are they to real life? An actual week in a designer's life is an interesting study in contrasts, and there is for sure a lot of boring that you don't see on TV. But there are some fun things, so I thought I'd take an eventful week from last fall (yes, I've been hanging on to these random iPhone pics forever for this post) and walk you through A Week in the Life...

First of all, every one of my weeks starts like this:

That's my desk with puppy dog pillows parked underneath and piled high with stuff (points for alliteration) -- in this case carpet and fabric samples for a project. If it's been a week where I have time to organize, my desk is nice and neat. If it's been a crazy week, I close the door to my office if we have guests coming over. But the point is, I spent a lot of time here. A LOT. In fact, I mark off days every week just as desk days, where I can plow through things I need to accomplish. Interestingly, I actually have two desks, one at my studio in Carrollton and one at home. The one in Carrollton is pristine. You can for sure tell where I do most of my work...

But there are non-desk parts too. This particular week, we decided to add drapes to a room I'd already finished for a client. Pull fabric samples, head to client's house, then play with which ones I think are going to work best in the room: what stands out against the wall, works with the chair fabric and existing bedding, and enhances the overall look? I narrow it down to three options:

We're gonna have to move that artwork.... (You can head to my website portfolio under "Bedrooms" and find the finished room if you are interested! Bedroom Gallery)

Then, off to look at tile for another client, which involves tile showrooms and fun display areas like this:

Look at that creative waterfall counter top on the desk! Love. <3

But another day I end up in places like this:

This was a granite fabricator located down off Harry Hines (the name of that street is constant entertainment) where I helped lay out templates for a client's kitchen. It was messy, but while I'm there I see these...

Really pretty granite remnants! Yay! These are a fabulous resource for small areas where you just need a little piece of stone. You better believe I kept that fabricator's name for future reference.

And this particular week was a really fun one where a client wanted me to see the latest design Neiman's had on their upstairs floor. It was really a hardship to have to run by there. I may or may not have stopped in the shoe department as well, but I absolutely did not charge for that time...

Add to this a few meetings, with clients or contractors or my design group in Carrollton, then add a lot more desk time, and you have a typical week in the life!

It really is pretty fun, at least MOST of the time. Perhaps I should devote another blog to When Things Go Wrong and share about a less fun week, but we'll save that for another time. I definitely enjoy the fabulous things my job exposes me to, and I love working with clients who often become friends. And, of course, I always like have an excuse to shoe shop...

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

So, this chair - which just happened to be installed yesterday - was so perfect for Valentine's Day, I had to share it with you!

This was a slightly different project than what I've done before, so I thought I'd share a bit of the story with you. A designer I work with is focusing her practice on Southlake, and one of her previous Frisco clients moved to Prosper -- which is just a bit too much of a drive! Here is a link to the wonderful work they did together before I became involved: Frisco Home

And here is a before photo of the new space up in Prosper. It definitely needed some lightening up!

It was actually quite fun to build on another designer's work as you have such a lovely base to start from, and you are already thinking outside of your zone since you're working with her color scheme. Loved it! The challenge was to bring in the blue and the red in a way that worked with those fabulous chairs. Of course, we started with paint, but there was still a long ways to go.

We had to figure out how to design such a long, narrow room (and one with two focal points!) while utilizing the space in the best way. It was just a little too tight to do two completely separate sitting areas, and one large area seemed to waste lots of space. The solution was found in doing two swivel gliders that can turn back and forth to face either space. I sourced fabrics that pulled in both the blue and red and found this FABULOUS striped chair fabric. The fabric had just been discontinued, but it was perfect, so we called to have them hold it for us, and we actually got the very last of it - whew! It was literally just enough to make these two chairs.

We laughed yesterday that these chairs were installed the day before Valentine's Day. We're calling them her Valentine's Day chairs! These photos were snapped quickly during the install; I'll post a few more once we do accessories next week, but the chairs were just too perfect not to share today.

It's a little treat in my job when I get to love on client's puppies, and it is always cute when they end up in the pics! This golden is one of the sweetest dogs. 💓

So, Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! It could be that what your life is missing is a wonderful red and white striped chair....